Letters to the Editor: Don’t lose local input on housing

General Lafayette keeps a protective watch over his namesake plaza in the affluent Contra Costa County suburb.

Photo: Chris Stewart / The Chronicle

I respect and generally enjoy reading your editorials, but I take exception to your Dec. 22 editorial, “Anti-housing lobby persists.” To describe the CASA Compact as a compromise is generous to those who would like to wrest development decisions away from the communities where they propose building high-density housing.

While there are citizens who resist any development, most acknowledge their responsibility to add new housing, especially near transit hubs. My city of Lafayette has added many new multistory residential buildings over the past decade, not without local opposition by anti-development citizens dedicated to preserving Lafayette as it was. The process has been measured but steady, balancing the needs to add housing with local input on the impact on such things as local traffic, parking, school expansion, views, etc.

The City Council and citizenry know how development will impact our community. For a regional or state entity to presume to understand all the relevant local issues and dictate how we should approve new housing is inappropriate. Finally, let us not forget that the housing shortage is complex and just adding more units is just one part of the solution, and will create new problems.

Jeffrey Dieden, Lafayette

Cut them off

I think that when the next government shutdown occurs, the president, vice president, the Senate and the House of Representatives should be the first ones to have their pay stopped. Then perhaps we wouldn’t have a shutdown.

James Rapoport, Redwood City

Shut off PG&E

Regarding “Frustration over PG&E shutoffs” (Page One, Dec. 24): How could this utility be so callous as to deny a Lake County sheriff access to a list of residents on life-saving equipment who might be impacted by a power shutoff?

PG&E should be working with local authorities to notify residents ahead of such actions. This news, along with revelations that PG&E’s poor maintenance of power lines was likely linked to this year’s catastrophic wildfires, makes one thing clear: California needs to take over this investor-owned utility.

Herman Rivera, San Jose

Break it up

PG&E has become a utility that only cares about profit for its shareholders and its executives. It does not care about the customers that supply all its profits. It is time to break up this behemoth. It is collapsing under its own weight. Wall Street should decertify PG&E from the stock exchange.

Enough is enough from this company that is run like something that Donald Trump might own. Please, California Public Utilities Commission, break up PG&E, ASAP.

Rocky Fort, San Lorenzo

Putin’s way

Defense Secretary James Mattis, who had planned on retiring from his position in February, was instead fired by President Trump due to, among other things, disagreements regarding the removal of the 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria.

Trump insists that the Islamic State has been defeated there, while Mattis, and several other high-ranking military officials, believe the opposite. The only high-ranking military man in agreement with Trump is Russian President Vladimir Putin, who feels that we shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

It appears Trump Towers, the Moscow edition, is right on schedule.

Michael Haworth, Vallejo

Not so, Joe

Joe Mathews wrote “Resistance to development stands in way of prosperity” (Insight, Dec. 23). He “questions the character” of anyone who dares to have a different opinion. I therefore question his character.

He is an obvious pawn of the developers. They want to steal your house and move you into a pack-and-stack apartment the size of your cube at work. We need more housing, but not at the expense of our quality of life. Modern transportation is the last thing any housing or business park developer wants to think about, but it is the key to everyone living happily in their own space.

Mark Apton, Santa Clara

Here’s an idea

If I were Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, I would stage a Reaganesque moment to help solve the crisis at the border. Appearing in front of the masses of utterly desperate and brutalized refugees in Tijuana, I would echo President Ronald Reagan’s iconic challenge in Berlin at the end of the Cold War: “Mr. Trump,” I’d yell, “tear down this wall!” Then again, since López Obrador is a leftist and obviously a friend of the terrorists, perhaps he should call on someone Trump loves to do it, like Kim Jong Un of North Korea.

But wait! How about inviting Vladimir Putin to issue that demand. Not only would it be the ultimate irony, but Trump would have to concede, since he finds it impossible to say no to him.

John Ahlbach, Pacifica

The boy ruler

History tells there were several boy kings/rulers. I’m not sure history tells us if there were any “childish” kings/rulers. If not, it is about time to start listing them.

If there weren’t any in the past, we can start with President Trump. He has repeatedly shown his behavior, going into tantrums when he doesn’t get his way. Unfortunately, our Congress seems incapable of dealing with him.

I hope the Congress deals with Trump’s “shutdown tantrums” better, curbing his enthusiasm to build the monstrosity he so proudly flaunts (spiked border wall).

The world is probably laughing at him (and our country) for the fake claim that ISIS is defeated. Then, after praising Defense Secretary James Mattis for his services, it appears that after someone reads him the resignation letter, Trump lashes out at him.

It is about time our country has someone more mature at the helm.

Raghavendra Rao Loka, Palo Alto

Send to sharks

Regarding “Grifter in chief,” editorial, Dec. 24: Why should anyone be surprised that the president treated his charitable foundation like a personal piggy bank? Anyone with Trump’s financial track record of multiple bankruptcies and business failures probably can’t receive help from a real bank. But now that the Trump Charitable Foundation has closed down, Trump should get his money the way all grifters do when they’re in a pinch — from a loan shark.

Regina Regalbuto, Santa Clara

Another chance

Concerning “Governor sets record for clemency in California,” Dec. 24: Gov. Jerry Brown, in concluding his second term in office, has now pardoned over 1,000 convicted criminals. However, one of Brown’s more recent decisions, a veto of AB2888 that would have allowed employers, co-workers and school personnel to petition a court to temporarily remove guns from someone they believe possesses an immediate danger, could add to our state’s prison population.

Given the gun violence plaguing our workplaces and schools, I urge Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom to work with the Legislature to reintroduce and pass a bill that will prevent more mass shootings.